Middle East Downstream Week to address the impact of Libyan unrest on wider industry

The Middle East Downstream Week event in Abu Dhabi next month will address the impact of the unrest in Libya on the wider downstream industry from the perspective of NOCs, IOCs, petrochemical producers, refiners, fuels marketers and distributors in addition to independent oil and gas experts and technology leaders. The event is taking place from 8-11 May 2011.

Long-term perspective could open doors for investors
Dominica Andrews, project director for Middle East Downstream Week says though instability in North Africa could have an impact on doing business in the region in the short term, the long term perspective could open up new doors for investors.

“As Libya holds Africa’s largest oil reserves, its contribution to the region and world is massive, however, IOCs still see it as an attractive investment opportunity despite recent troubles”, says Dominica Andrews. She continues: “The oil industry in Libya is centralised and should there be a regime change, there could be opportunities for more decision makers to emerge, providing new routes to conduct business; however, it is not something that can happen overnight.”

Bridging the gap between strategy and technology
Large refiners in the region, including event co-host TAKREER, Saudi Aramco, KNPC and ADNOC have already nominated delegations to ensure representation at the Middle East Downstream Week. Dominica Andrews: “The theme for our conference is “bridging the gap between strategy and technology” in order to address the uncertainty in the industry. There is no doubt that the Middle East refining sector is facing numerous challenges including uncertainty, increasingly stringent quality and environmental standards in addition to competition from non-refinery supply additions.” She continues: “a more demanding project finance environment also makes it even more challenging to justify and move forward with new build, revamp and capacity expansion projects.”

The line-up of high profile industry personalities include:
• Jasem Ali Al Sayegh, General Manager, ABU DHABI OIL REFINING COMPANY (TAKREER)
• Jean Jacques Mosconi, Senior Vice President, Strategy, TOTAL
• Solomon Mirza, Vice President, Strategic Planning and Capital Allocation, SHELL
• Bakhit Shabib Al Rashidi, Deputy Managing Director, Planning and Local Marketing, KUWAIT NATIONAL PETROLEUM COMPANY (KNPC)
• Dr. Partha Maitra, President, Petroleum Business, RELIANCE INDUSTRIES
• Norman Gilsdorf, President, HONEYWELL PROCESS SOLUTIONS
• Dr. Samir Elkareish, Director of Technical Affairs, ORGANIZATION OF ARAB PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES (OAPEC)
• Nabeel Al Ruwaidhi, General Manager – Corporate Affairs, Business Development and Strategic Planning, OMAN OIL MARKETING COMPANY SAOG (OOMCO)
• Mohamed Mezal, Refinery Operations Planning Manager, THE BAHRAIN PETROLEUM COMPANY (BAPCO)
• Dr. Halim Hamid Redhwi, Assistant Supervisor, DHAHRAN TECHNO-VALLEY (DTV) and Professor, Chemical Engineering Department KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERALS (KFUPM)
• Hamid Reza Seyed Jafari, Director of Corporate Planning, NATIONAL IRANIAN OIL REFINING AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANY (NIORDC)

Event dates:
• Axens Middle East Refining Seminar: 8 May 2011
• Downstream Integration Workshop: 8 May 2011
• Main Conference: 9-10 May 2011
• Middle East Fuels Symposium: 11 May 2011
• Site Visit: TAKREER Ruwais Refinery: 11 May 2011

Event website: www.wra-medw.com

For more information, interviews and media accreditation:
Communications manager: Annemarie Roodbol
Tel. +27 21 700 3558
Fax. +27 21 700 3501
Mobile: +27 82 562 7844
Email: annemarie.roodbol@clarionevents.com

Middle East Downstream Week is part of Clarion Events, the UK's largest independent events company with annual turnover of over £150m, drawing upon over 80 years of experience of hosting strategic conferences conferences and seated events across Britain, Europe, North and South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia. Our events, business-to-business and business-to-consumer, serve 15 different market sectors from leisure and entertainment to finance, from retail to gaming and from fine art to energy.

For more information, interviews and media accreditation:
Communications manager: Annemarie Roodbol
Tel. +27 21 700 3558
Fax. +27 21 700 3501
Mobile: +27 82 562 7844
Email: annemarie.roodbol@clarionevents.com
Website: www.www.wra-medw.com
PO Box 321, Steenburg, Tokai, South Africa

This release was published on openPR.